Take THAT!
by Super Sister
Summary: Steampunk Fantasy AU. While escaping from Thealia, the Crew of the S. O. Souls kidnap a man named Arthur, who claims to be the son of the Royal Advisor. After that, things get a little complicated. DISCONTINUED.
1. Prologue

The sound of battle continued overhead, despite the absence of the captain.

He supposed it was better that way. His crew couldn't stop just because he had vanished.

He sighed.

So this was how it was going to end. Him. In a crashed aeroplane. Eyes staring at the blue skies above him. Alone. Forgotten.

To be honest, he didn't see _how_ he hadn't seen this coming. A pirate. Of course he'd end up dying alone. Dying pathetically. It was his own fault his plane had stopped working mid-fight. His second-in-command had _told_ him more than enough times that he needed to repair his ride.

But he had ignored him. He'd thought he'd known better.

Damn himself, his pride and his stubbornness.

He wouldn't be stuck here, probably dying, if he hadn't insisted that his flying machine could easily survive another five or so years without repairs.

Ha! He was such an idiot...

Who would have thought that his old friend from way back was right? Oh please, he'd always known he'd be right.

And he, the captain, the pirate, had always known his pride and stubbornness would be his downfall too.

He continued looking up at the skies.

... They were so beautiful... So blue... A pity he'd never see them again.

Never fly in them again.

Never fly.

He smiled tiredly.

Ah. If he were to live another day, he would never let himself get in his way again. Give up his pride. Give up his stubbornness. His arrogance... He might actually stop running straight into trouble. He might finally learn to keep his head out of a fight. He might learn not to accept every challenge thrown his way.

... He might actually start growing up.

But he wouldn't get another chance... Would he? He was going to die. Out here alone. No one to miss him. No one to care.

Alone and forgotten.

The captain laughed bitterly.

Indeed, the most infamous pirate of them all!

And he knew, he knew deep down, he would be forgotten in no time.

He sighed and smiled contentedly at the skies.

Yes... They were indeed beautiful...

The captain sighed and closed his eyes.

* * *

**This is probably going to get discontinued, as I have no idea where this is going. Or more likely, I'll give it a crack ending, as I've kinda made this as a kinda take-that to all steampunk fanfics I've read... They're either good and discontinued or bad (if there's a good one currently being updated, let me know!) :I Ah well...**


	2. Introductions to the Main Cast

Arthur was a normal man. He appeared maybe a little striking, with his oddly untameable hair (and the local hairdresser DID try), his large eyebrows and bright green eyes, but otherwise there was nothing particularly noticeable about him. He was the local mechanic, responsible for repairing broken tractors and clocks and those general kind of things. Nothing big or complex, like an aeroship or a cyborg's arm, but still enough things to be known as the Village's Mechanic. He also doubled as a teacher for those who couldn't afford an education and as the village was poor, that was a lot of people.

Despite being paid little as mechanic and getting nothing as the village's teacher, Arthur was content and happy with his life. There was absolutely nothing he would to change about it.

Well, that was not strictly speaking true... He would kill to live with someone else. As Arthur didn't earn enough money to afford his own home, he had to share it with Francis Bonnefoy. Moreover, it was _Francis' _home and _Francis_ who let him in.

He supposed he couldn't complain. Francis was the Village's Tailor. Unlike Arthur, he was capable of anything in that field, be it new sails for airships or clothing for toy dolls to repair for badly damaged dresses. And like Arthur, Francis also doubled as something else, namely a free doctor. The village was located in the middle of no where, the nearest hospital being miles away, and even if they did have a local doctor, the fees would be too expensive.

And on top of that, Francis could fix up cyborgs as well, making him well suited for the role of doctor, as most of the villagers had been in serious accidents before and had become cyborgs. It was dangerous for Francis to be the village's doctor though, as it wasn't exactly legal to practice it while untrained, so everyone was very quiet about it. Especially when travellers were passing through the village.

Arthur looked up from his newspaper, at the blue skies above him. Strangely enough, there hadn't been any strangers passing through the village in a while now. Maybe it was because all these raids from air pirates. Or maybe it was because no one in Thealia could afford to travel any more. Or maybe it was because of the famine (although that was coming to an end, as many villages had had successful crops this year). Either way, the only ones complaining about a lack of new people were the children, who hated the fact that nothing new ever happened in their village.

Then again, Francis, Arthur and sometimes some other local villagers, would work together to create new things for the children. They had built all sorts of new toys, ranging from small mechanic animals to miniature blimps, that weren't quite big enough to carry pets, but large enough to carry small, miniature dolls.

Sadly, they were running low on ideas, as their creativity _did_ have its limits.

Arthur supposed it was a good thing that all these raids had been going on recently. It had given him and Francis the idea of making more pirate-based toys. The children loved them, but the parents hated it, as they felt it might encourage the children to become pirates. It was an issue of long debate between them and the villagers, one that they were still arguing about.

Arthur flipped through his newspaper. According to it, a crew of pirates (unsurprisingly from Libra, a nearby island country) had recently attempted to kill the Queen of Thealia. It had failed and most of the crew had been arrested. The rest fled with their ship, abandoning their crew mates.

And good riddance! Not only did he hate pirates, he also hated Librians, as everyone else did in Thealia. Ever since Libra had gained independence from Thealia several decades ago, it had been a royal pain in the backside. They lacked any law enforcements or proper government and he was pretty sure that the place was mostly run by pirates anyway. Most were actually surprised that Libra was still able to hold strong against other kingdoms and countries and hadn't lost its independence yet.

Then again, which country or kingdom would even _want_ Libra at this point? Its land was useless, poor in minerals and metals and Librian problems with Pirates, corrupt government and no real law enforcement would make the place a nightmare to run.

He placed his paper aside and took a sip of tea.

Francis had entered the shop with some new materials. He didn't bother greeting Arthur and walked straight passed him. On bad days, the two ignored each other. Francis was having a bad day.

Of course, this didn't mean Arthur was having a bad day. The contrary. Francis' bad days made him happier than usual (normally). He liked the days Francis was in a bad mood, as it meant that he got more peace than he usually would. He sighed and relaxed in his chair.

After his tea, he'd have to continue working on that annoying clock again, but that was all right. With no Francis rambling in the background or singing or humming annoying songs, he believed he might be able to finish repairing the clock today.

He looked up at the skies and smiled.

They were quite beautiful.

* * *

Feliciano sat curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth. He had been doing this for hours, ever since he'd realised that they'd run out of pasta. Elizaveta sighed. They had checked through their food rations and realised that they hadn't restocked in a long time. The only thing left to eat were crackers. Lots of crackers. Probably enough to survive a trip back home, but it was so horribly bland.

Before going home, they had decided to stop somewhere and fill up on food. Kiku was off somewhere, looking for a map of Thealia, to see where the nearest settlement was. It was taking a while, as the maps were located in the Captain's cabin, which was locked and the only one with the key to it was the... Captain.

... But he had been one of the many victims of the Thealian Guards.

Gods, she hated Thealians. She wished they'd been successful. The king was the heart of a kingdom, or in this case the queen. Killing her was the fastest way to seriously damage Thealia.

... But the other Librians had been right. The mission had been stupid and pointless. It had resulted in the capture and probably deaths of most of the crew. They had achieved absolutely nothing.

Elizaveta leant against the door frame, looking at the two Vargas brothers. Everyone had expected Lovino to snap too, but surprisingly, he held strong. Probably for the sake of his younger brother.

She sighed.

She didn't think Feliciano was crying solely because of the missing pasta. That had simply been the trigger. No one would admit the sadness they felt. There was no point in crying though, as there was nothing they could do to change what had happened. Besides, everyone knew that an early death came with being a pirate. Everyone knew that they very well might all be dead the next day.

... And in all honesty, most of the crew of S. O. Souls had been jerks anyway, so it wasn't like it had been that big a loss...

But they had been _their_ jerks.

It _was_ a big loss.

And that wasn't even _mentioning_ the Captain. He'd been like a father to them... In fact he _was_ the actual father of one of the crew members...

She sighed.

The first chance she got, she would avenge them. She promised them that.

Gods, she _really_ hated Thealians.

She watched the Vargas brothers for a while, before sighing and going back to walking to the Captain's cabin, under Alfred's orders.

Strange as it was to... well, everyone left on S. O. Souls, Alfred had gotten the role of Captain, without anyone debating it or choosing someone more mature... Like herself.

Then again, maybe it did make a little sense. Alfred _was_ the Captain's son, after all. Admittedly, Alfred was adopted, but still. Alfred had already been the heir to the aeroship, so him becoming the next Captain made sense. It was for the best anyway. He already had all the qualities of a good captain. He was good at putting morale up in the crew, was quite a good fighter and, despite the stupidities he committed everyday, he could think fast on his feet. Besides, they would rather have him as the Captain than doing any actual work. They had let him work on the ship once. To keep it short, it had not ended well. They had had to spend half their gained goods on ship repairs. And that was just the _ship_.

She poked her head around the corner and saw the man from the far East working away at the door.

"Hey, Kiku, whatcha up to?"

"Still picking the lock." he replied, fiddling with metal pieces, stuck in said thing. Elizaveta stared in fascination. Lock-picking was admittedly quite amazing, but the woman had no interest in ever learning how to do it. She preferred to think herself the Ship's strongman, which she now _was_. She saw no point in learning how to lock-pick, when she served as the person to knock down doors. She watched with curiosity though, despite knowing that she could easily knock the door down.

She was also unaware that she was making Kiku uncomfortable. The man hated it when people looked over his shoulder when he was working.

He decided to start a conversation.

"What's Alfred doing?" he asked, not looking away from the lock.

"Moping, mostly. He's also in the middle of a break-down."

"A what?"

"He doesn't think he'll be a good captain. He's freaking out about it."

"Oh. His surprisingly low self-confidence has returned." Kiku muttered. "And how are Peter and Paulette?"

"I don't think Peter is fully aware that being captured doesn't mean life-long imprisonment... No one's had the heart to tell him yet. Not even Paulette."

"And how's she?"

"Very angry and upset. She's handling the loss surprisingly well though."

"... How about Feliciano and Lovino?"

"Feliciano's... cracked... Lovino is staying strong for him though. I think."

"I suppose that's good..."

Elizaveta was quiet and looked away, frowning.

"We really shouldn't have come here."

"How could we have known? We almost succeeded. If it weren't for that... That servant... We would have been successful."

"No. I meant the very idea of coming to Thealia. You know how dangerous this place is."

Kiku paused in his work, thoughtfully. Generally, any country outside of Libra was a dangerous place, but Thealia was the most dangerous. It wasn't because they had a lot more men after them or because they took pirates more seriously than other countries.

It was because there was no such thing as a Thealian pirate. Somehow, the whole population absolutely hated pirates, none would tolerate or help them and if ever spotted by anyone, you could bet a battle would pursue. Basically, Thealia was the most dangerous place for a pirate to be in... Because there were no friends or allies to be found within the kingdom.

He continued working.

"I also wish we hadn't come here. From easily being fifty men to seven people... It's quite depressing." Kiku said after a while, the silence discomforting him.

Elizaveta nodded in agreement.

"At least we can still run the ship. Otherwise we'd have also been... Caught..." Elizaveta sighed and leant against the wall.

"... You've been voted Quartermaster." she said, deciding to change conversation.

"What?" Kiku asked, turning around to look at her in horror. The lock clicked and the door opened. Elizaveta smiled sweetly.

"We all voted. You're best suited for Quartermaster. Anyway, I see you've unlocked the door, so you should go and find a map now. I'll go and tell Alfred we got in."

"Wait, hang on-" Kiku started, but Elizaveta had already walked off, possibly laughing to herself. Kiku sighed.

Great. He was the Quartermaster.

He could feel a break-down coming on.

* * *

**S. O. Souls is actually written without gaps, but FF. net wouldn't let me write it without gaps. And yes. S. O. Souls is a very creative ship name, isn't it? hinthintsarcasmhinthint.  
**

**Paulette is Wy, by the way. In the mean time, Australia is called Brian, unless you can come up with a name I prefer better.**

**Also, I've decided that to the crew, Kiku doesn't use the prefixes that should be given. However, to people outside the crew, he will be referring to them with the correct prefix. ;P**

**Sorry it took so long to update. Expect such horrid long pauses!  
**


	3. Plans and Events

It was dark and damp, as always in the castle's caverns far beneath the earth. The air was rotten, dry and suffocating.

The machines clanked and hissed as the gears turned and the heat they produced were bordering on unbearable. Men cowered in cages, staring in confusion at the turn of cogs and rise of steam. They didn't know why they were there. They didn't know what was going to happen to them. But they knew they should be very much afraid.

Armed soldiers walked past, ignoring the prisoners, focusing solely on their task, which was to protect and follow the orders of the scientists.

The head scientist kept his head low, not daring to look anyone in the eye. He hadn't been able to in years.

As they reached the entrance door, he briefly looked up, to see the Queen, who wore her usual sweet, soft smile.

He felt sick.

"Ah, Doctor Carriedo, it is so wonderful of you to finally come to an arranged meeting." she said, smiling.

"I beg your pardon your majesty. I had previously been otherwise occupied and could not come. I hope you will accept my apology." he said, head bowed. "And please, you may call me Miguel."

She laughed.

"No, I am quite all right with Doctor Carriedo." she said. She then walked up to him. Her court followed her.

"I desire a progress report. What news of your experiment?"

Doctor Carriedo sighed. The Queen looked worried, frowning.

"I do hope it is good news?" she then continued.

"... We've... We've managed to produce a successful batch. At least, they seem to work... We need to execute more tests and... We need to find a way to raise the probability of it working." he explained.

She smiled again.

"Oh, so you are making progress? How many survived?"

"... We tested it on at least fifty people. Three survived."

She frowned again, but shrugged and turned away, walking back and forth.

"You are right, you need to find a way for the success rate to raise. But we now have our first three, so well done Doctor Carriedo. Once you have finished your... Tests. Send them to the Wizard, so their training can begin."

"Yes your highness." Doctor Carriedo said, bowing.

"Is there anything else you can report?"

"Yes your majesty. We have the rumours under control again, thanks to the attempted assassination on your person. At least one good thing came out of the attack, other than your life being saved, of course." he said. The queen nodded.

"Quite good. And any other problems?"

"No your majesty. Only technical ones, with which I do not intend to bore you. For that we have the Royal Advisor, after all."

She nodded.

"All right. Do show me these lucky three later, when you have the time? I would like to meet them. They will, after all, be the at the front lines."

Doctor Carriedo bit his lip.

"... Yes your majesty." he said quietly.

* * *

"There." Kiku said, placing a needle down on the map. "This is where we can go restock." he announced, taking a few steps back. Elizaveta and Alfred looked at the map thoughtfully.**  
**

"What's it called?" Alfred asked after a while of staring at the map.

"I don't know. This may be the most valuable map we have aboard, but whoever made it was in a hurry. He pro-"

"Or she." Elizaveta interrupted. Kiku sighed.

"Or she probably didn't have enough time to learn the name of the place."

"Why this village though? There are some closer to our current location." Elizaveta asked, pointing at various villages.

"Look. This village has multiple roads heading outwards. The others don't. This means that the village hasn't got enough money to have aeroships and doesn't get that many visitors. They're still probably dependant on Earth-bound vehicles. Also, this particular village hasn't got any nearby villages for miles and even the closest village is still a relatively small place. They are pretty much isolated. Also, they're by a river. No other villages are, so we can follow it to the sea. Clean escape."

"All right... How long will it take to get there?"

"We'll be there in two days, probably at nightfall. It will then take a week to reach Libra."

"... What about weaponry? You can't invade a village if you have no weapons. Besides, we're not exactly the scariest crew of pirates any more... More like a band of misfits." Alfred commented. "How much have we lost?"

Kiku paused and looked away. After some contemplation, he finally answered.

"We have the Captain's decorative swords. But they're probably unsharpened and are more useful as bats. We have a few guns here and there... It'll be enough to arm ourselves... Not including Paulette or Peter... I'd prefer them to stay on the ship."

"So... Could we be armed to the teeth?" Elizaveta asked.

"... I don't think so... We'll be armed lightly."

"How will that make us appear frightful?" she then continued, frowning.

"Well... I doubt the villagers will be very smart. They're probably simple folk. Rarely attacked by pirates... Surprise and shock will be a huge factor in this attack, so yes, I do believe they'll be frightened, whether or not we're armed to the teeth. If it doesn't work..." Kiku trailed off. "... We'll make them afraid." he eventually said.

For a moment, both Alfred and Elizaveta thought they saw anger flicker in Kiku's eyes, but quickly decided against it. In all their time of knowing the man from the east, he had never been angry. Not back, when they'd been teens (well, Alfred was still a teen, but he'd be turning twenty that year), not when Kiku had been forced to have all his hair shaved off (long story) and not even when they attacked Thealia.

The two looked at each other and nodded.

"All right. Call the others together so we can vote. If we go for it, then we'll be there in two days. I'll... I'll be in the Captain's cabin." Alfred announced, before walking off. Elizaveta and Kiku watched as he closed the door.

Elizaveta then cleared her throat.

"Alfred didn't ask, but how much ammunition do we actually have?"

"Barely any." Kiku replied. "But there is more than one way to kill a man. Don't worry." he continued, before following after Alfred. "I'll go find Paulette and Peter. You can go get the Vargas brothers! See you on deck!"

And then he left. Just like that.

* * *

Arthur stared at the dress.

"... It's... Interesting." he said after a while. The young lady squealed in delight.

"Oh good!" she said, smiling. "I was worried it'd look horrible, but I'm glad you like it!"

"Y-yeah..." he agreed, before clearing his throat. Francis sighed deeply, sipping some of his wine and muttering something in a foreign language (which to us would sound a suspiciously lot like French).

"Thank you so much for making this Mr Bonnefoy! Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think when he sees you, he won't be able to wait until he can ravish you." Francis replied, smiling pained.

"Oh, Mr Bonnefoy! Not so vulgar!" But the girl grinned, obviously not insulted. She giggled, before returning to looking at herself in the metal tractor (which Arthur was currently repairing). It was the best thing they had for a mirror at the time and the girl seemed to like her reflection.

"Just two more days and I'll be wed. I'm so happy!" she squeed. Arthur and Francis both nodded in agreement.

"Oh Melissa~ Where's my sweet bumblebee~" someone suddenly called out. The girl turned.

"Oh! Edward! I'm here!" she cried, quickly running out the door.

"Melissa, wait! You're still in your-" Arthur tried to warn, but too late. Melissa ran out of the room.

"Edward! What are you doing here? I'm still in my Bride's dress! That's bad luck!"

"I couldn't wait to see you!" they heard the young man reply. Arthur sighed and returned to repairing the heap of metal in front of him.

"That. Is the worst dress I have ever made." Francis muttered, massaging his forehead. "There is not enough wine on the world to make me forgive myself for making such a monstrosity. But Melissa likes it... It seems the groom likes it..."

"Bad luck." Arthur said. "Why did you let her do that? You know it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding."

"Oh, Arthur, you don't actually _believe_ in that nonsense, do you?"

"Well, no, but you can never be too cautious about these things." Arthur replied. He continued fixing the tractor.

"... Francis, you mustn't beat yourself up about the dress. You did the best you could with the supplied materials and probably made a far better dress than any other could have under the same conditions."

"That may be true... But it's still a monstrosity." Francis said after a while. "... Well, to the bride and groom." he muttered, finishing his wine glass. Arthur sighed.

"To the bride and groom indeed." he mumbled.

* * *

**The reason why the map of Thealia is the most _valuable_ map is because it's a map made by a pirate for pirates. It's rare, because not many pirates travel through Thealia, let alone create a map of it. It contains valuable information that other maps won't hold. In term of _expensive_ map though... It's not all too expensive. But pirates will give an arm and a leg for it.**

**Miquel Carriedo is Portugal, my "first" Hetalia OC, as much as it pains me to admit. I hope I'm able to write him in such a way that you guys don't mind. ^^;  
**


End file.
